DDW4: Setup

As mentioned yesterday I setup the next iteration of the “DDW Effects on Life” experiment. I won’t have any pictures today and maybe not tomorrow because I’m in the process of rebuilding the photography station (need something a little more stable). The first few days aren’t that important anyway, because there are no noticeable phenotypical changes and the root hairs don’t show up for some time.

As for the setup, I’ve made a few changes that I think are for the better. Also, for all product details please see the experimental product page at the top. Let’s get into the nitty gritty:

There are 12 samples per seed type, and there are 3 seed types (2 tobacco, 1 arabidopsis). I’m using a new batch of Virginia Gold (tobacco), Havana 2000 (tobacco), and Columbia arabidopsis. There are 10 samples of DDW, 1 sample of tap water, and 1 sample of DI water (I only have 3 cuvette racks and this is the limit that I can hold for now).

For this experiment I used a new bottle of DDW. The other bottle had been opened since September and it was time for a change (in case D exchange is something to worry about).

Wearing gloves, I counted 36 macro cuvettes and lids. I labeled each lid as either CA, VG, or H for each plant type (12 each). 2 lids were also labeled either tap or DI to distinguish these samples from the DDW samples.

No less than 5 seeds (at most 6 seeds) were poured into each cuvette. I’ve noticed that pouring the seeds from their wax paper pouches is much faster than sorting by hand with tweezers. It also prevents me from crushing the seeds with the tweezers or from contaminating them by touching them to another surface.

3ml of a water type were then added to each cuvette and sealed with the lids. To be clear, I would add seeds to every cuvette (per seed type) and then add water and seal, then move on to the next seed type.

Typically the seeds need to soak for several hours (I don’t have an exact number, but 24 hours works well enough) before they settle on the bottom of the cuvette.